New Music: “Paper Trail Records Presents: Thanks for Listening” – a charity compilation filled with great music

13th October 2015

Well, this is a gem, and by buying it you’re doing good things too. That’s already two good reasons to buy it.

To help raise awareness for World Mental Health Day (it was on October 10th), several wonderful artists donated previously unheard songs for this compilation to help Dublin based label Paper trail Records raise money for Console – Ireland’s National Suicide Charity. All proceeds from this compilation will go directly to Console, so adding a couple of extra Euros to the set price of 5 Euros on Bandcamp is a nice thing to do if you can.

What originally made me very interested, was not the charity thing (I admit that), but that two artists who have made some of my favourite releases this year, are involved, – Eskimeaux and Beach Moon/Peach Moon. I hadn’t heard many of the other bands, but almost every song here is really, really good. I said almost, but I think I actually meant all. It’s an impressive compilation for so many reasons.

The two bands already mentioned have wonderful songs on the compilation, I love those two, but the most interesting thing for me is to discover all the other ones. Infinity Girl‘s “Katherine” is a lo-fi and dreamy popsong with a chorus soooo perfect that it almost brings tears to my eyes. Teen Suicide‘s “Lately” is a jangly indiepop song with a fuzzy 60s sound and twangy guitars. Very good. Star Parks‘ Northern soul-styled backing is lovely, and Katie Kim‘s big, dark, reverbed electronic folk sound is really interesting to dive into.

For me, personally, Beach Moon/Peach Moon‘s lovely “Your Lght”, with all its weird, beautiful backwards harmonies and sounds – and “Bigly, Small and Unheard” by Eskimeaux – and of course the cause of the release – are worth the buy alone, and it is so nice to get all the other gems along with them. Go and buy it now!